Properly
by EpicnessAndThenSome
Summary: The apocalypse is here, and survivors have to stick together. SkyeWard, ZombieApocalypse!AU
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey guys! I've finished writing this story but I'm going to update it in increments anyways. It's 7 chapters in total and I'm hoping to upload 2 a week, but I'm going on a trip to Spain for the next two weeks, so it just depends on if I have wifi. I think I will though, so hopefully I'll still be able to update. Please review, they make me a happy author! :)**

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She was dead, and she knew it. Another five minutes maybe, and then the door would give and she'd have more than just these three deados to deal with; she'd have a whole swarm of them. She whirled and flung out her arm, driving the long screwdriver in her hand into a zombie's skull and then pulling it back to give her attention to the next one. Yeah, she was going down, but she was sure as hell going down swinging.

The second zomb didn't put up much of a fight either. His nails raked against her arm, but her leather jacket prevented him from actually scratching her. A roundhouse kick knocked him to the ground and then her steel-toed boot was through his face and the undead once again became just… dead. The third one came at her from behind, stumbling towards her with his mouth hanging wide open. It was only at the last second that she heard him and she screamed as she spun around before quickly driving the gore-coated screwdriver up through the roof of his mouth and into his brain. Instantly he dropped, and Skye finally had a moment to decide how she wanted to spend the next three minutes of her life.

She looked around at the empty room in which she stood… The walls were all white, except for the slashes of red that now coated them. The floor was linoleum tile, and the only light in the room came from the cracks between the boards on the single window. Skye went over and pulled the boards away from the glass. She was on the tenth floor of the building, and there was no fire escape. The window still might be her best way out though… Better to be dead than to be one of those things. She sighed and looked back at the wooden door on the other side of the room. The omnipresent banging was still there as the hoard outside tried to get in, and she could see the cracks starting to form as the door began to cave. Not much longer then.

Skye turned back to the window and broke the glass, knocking all the broken bits away from the edges. She swung one leg over the sill, then the other, and just sat there in the window frame. A drop of salted water trickled down her cheek. To be fair, she was lucky to have made it this far. Most of the population hadn't lived through the first week of the outbreak, and she'd made it the better part of a year.

Another thump on the door, and she actually heard the wood splinter that time. She prepared herself to push off the moment that the door broke down, despite the tears that were flowing freely down her face by then.

One more bang, a deep breath.

Another. This time she sobbed.

A third and…. Gunshots? Zombies didn't use guns.

Skye swallowed and took a shaky breath, quickly wiping the tears off of her face. The gunshots outside the door continued, and she quickly climbed back into the room. The door did break down just then, and two of the brainless freaks came into the room, but with her newfound hope driving her, she quickly threw her screwdriver at the first one like a knife, re-killing him before he even got halfway across the room. The other one she met with a grin. Her leather-clad hands grabbed the asshole's neck and she swung him around and then used his own weight to continue his velocity and throw him out the now-open window. She turned back to the door, expecting another wave of attackers, but instead found a tall, handsome guy standing there, eyebrows raised in shock.

"Thanks for saving my ass" she laughed. The shock of the situation was starting to set in now, and with shock usually came a bit of hysteria. Fortunately, she was a laugher, not a crier, when it came to hysterics. Then again, pretty much everyone these days was a hysterical laugher. Laughers could get shit done. All of the criers were dead. "I'm Skye" she added, after taking a deep breath to settle herself.

"T-K."

"Really? T-K? That's the name your parents gave you?"

"No, that's the name I took on when the world went to shit. 'Grant Douglas Ward' doesn't really sound like the name of someone who's going to kick some zombie ass, now does it?"

"So why T-K?"

"Stands for T-1000. It's a nickname I had, once upon a time…"

"Well, Grant, we need a bit of normality in this world. I don't think that Skye necessarily sounds like the name of someone who kicks zombo ass, but clearly I do, so…."

"Right well, it doesn't really matter what our names are, or how much ass we kick, I've cleared this floor and the lower ones, but there are still more upstairs and I'd imagine my gunshots have probably got them on their way here, so we should probably get going…"

"Agreed." Skye crossed the room and grabbed her screwdriver out of the corpse's head, wiped it on the freak's shirt, and then stuck it back in her pocket before following him out the door.

"A screwdriver?" Grant asked.

"Weapon of opportunity. It's served me well though, and I haven't found anything better yet."

"Right, well, you've got my back for a bit, so I'd rather you have a bit more than a screwdriver to defend us with…"Grant replied. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a handgun, then reached down to his ankle and grabbed a knife that was strapped to it. He passed them both over, and Skye nodded gratefully before stashing them on her person.

They ran towards the stairs and Skye figured that they were going down, but instead Grant started to run up.

"Hey T-K, aren't you going the wrong way?"

"I just have to grab one thing, it's on the next floor. I was on my way up there when I heard your scream. I took a detour but now I gotta get back on track. You can wait here if you want."

"No way, I'm coming with you."

Grant nodded, then continued up the stairs, taking them two at a time, with Skye right on his tail. When they got up to the next floor, they opened the door just a crack and peeked through. It was clearly an office, with rows of desks everywhere. The scanned the room for any movement, and fortunately there were only two zombs that they could see. Grant raised his gun but Skye laid a hand on his arm and shook her head. She pulled out the knife he had given her and grabbed another one out of the sheath on his thigh. She winked at him quickly, then stepped into the room. The halfwits didn't even have a chance to notice her before she threw one knife, then the other, taking out the both of them while barely crossing the threshold.

"Come on" she told him. "Get what you need." Grant nodded and hurried past her. He raced down the aisle between the desks, the abruptly stopped at one and started rummaging through the drawers. Meanwhile, Skye went over to the things she had just killed and retrieved her weapons, once again using the victim's own clothing to clean off her blades.

"I got it, let's go" Grant called. Skye looked over and saw him doing up the button on one of his cargo pant pockets before he headed back to the door which lead to the stairs. She jogged over and followed him, and this time they actually did begin the descent.

When they got down the stairs and to the front door of the building, they quickly scanned the street out front. Nothing seemed to be moving, but they both knew that that could change in an instant.

"Come on, my ride's just down the block" Grant told her. He quickly led the way outside, and they jogged along the empty sidewalk. Both of them hated being so exposed for so long, but they didn't have much choice. The rounded the corner and Grant jogged over to a cherry red jeep.

"Really? Ostentatious much?" Skye asked.

"Hey, she's fast, functional, and she's my baby. Don't poke fun."

"Alright, I won't. She got a name?"

"Lola."

Skye smiled but opened the passenger door and climbed into Lola none the less.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Hey all, well like I said I am in Spain, but I've got wifi so here's chapter 2! Enjoy!**

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Grant drove like a madman, but Skye kindda dug it.

"Did you even have your license, before all of this?" she yelled over the loud rock music that blared out of the speakers.

"Nope!" Grant replied with a grin. "I went to high school overseas."

"Jealous!"

"Yeah, it was pretty cool… Anyways, I came back here for college and, lucky me, was just in time for all this shit to happen. I was planning to get my learner's permit and then take driving lessons over Christmas break, but that didn't wind up happening. When you think about it though, the hard part about driving isn't operating the vehicle; it's dealing with the other cars, and all the rules of the road. Those things don't really exist anymore, so…."

"True enough!"

"How about you? You drive?"

"I had just bought my own ride, 3 weeks before the outbreak. It got totalled in the first week of the world going to shit. I was so mad. I saved up for two years to get that van, and then she was gone within a month. Not fair."

"Ouch! Well we've got a couple spare cars at the base. Maybe we can get you one."

"The base?"

"Yeah, that's where we're headed. A bunch of us have a pretty good system going. We're not necessarily trying to rebuild the world, just trying to maintain the bit we've got of it. There's not a lot of us, but we're doing alright."

"Hey, even a piece of the world is better than nothing."

The rest of the drive was filled with small talk, but it wasn't long before Grant turned down a sidestreet and pulled up in front of a small, rundown building.

"This is it?" Skye asked incredulously. Grant just smirked and pressed a button on what looked to be a garage door opener. Not only did the door of the building open up, but so did what had appeared to be a part of the wall. They had clearly disguised the drive-through entrance as being just a little 4-foot wide door to avoid the attention of any outsiders. Once the door was open, Grant drove through it. Just inside the entrance was a large ramp which they continued down as the door shut behind them.

"Welcome to the BUS" Grant grinned as they got to the bottom of the ramp and climbed out into what was clearly the base's garage.

"Bus?" Skye asked, following him down a hallway.

"It stands for Big Underground Shelter," Grant clarified. "Fitz came up with it, you'll meet him later. He likes making up weird acronyms for stuff, but we've all learned to go with it by now. Speaking of meeting people… Skye, this is Melinda. We call her the Cavalry though."

"Does everyone have nicknames around here?"

"Pretty much."

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Melinda" Skye said to the woman who had been walking down the hallway and had stopped in front of them.

"You too. Skye, was it? T-K, you'll want to bring her straight to the Director. You know how he can be about strangers."

"On our way there now." Melinda nodded briskly in response before walking away purposefully in the direction that the two of them had just come from. "Don't mind her, she's not so much of a people person. Kicks major zombo ass though, so she's a good one to have around."

"Who's the Director? And what did she mean about him not liking strangers?"

"Phil Coulson. He runs pretty much everything around here. Keeps our team together, and alive, as best he can… And he can be a bit, well, guarded about outsiders. I mean, he's easy to win over, but he doesn't like having people in the BUS that he doesn't know" Grant explained as they continued down the hall. "Oh, over there is Jem's lab" he told her, pointing through a window beside them. Inside the room were several tables covered in various scientific instruments and, in one corner of the room, a large metal cage which almost resembled a prison cell. "Jem was a bio-chem student, before all of this. Just one year short of getting her PhD. She's working on a cure for this virus. So far she's got nothing, but she's our best hope, so her safety is kindda our number one priority. Don't EVER go into her lab though, not without being invited. Even the Director won't go in there without her. There's a lot of potentially dangerous stuff in there, stuff you definitely don't want to mess with.

"And here we have Fitz's lab. He's basically a magician. He goes out and finds the randomest things… Car parts, a tube of plastic, stuff that's total garbage, and he turns them into weapons for us. I heard he was working on building a flame thrower that could be mounted onto the roof of Lola, but he hasn't actually confirmed that yet. God I hope he does. How cool would that be?"

"Way cool."

"Oh, and this is the lounge where we all hang out. This is Antoine, aka Tripwire, or Trip for short. Back before we found and renovated the BUS we were moving around, setting up camp here and there. One night a pack of walkers found us. We had lookouts, of course, but we were in the trees and our sentries didn't see them. Fortunately, Antoine had set up a tripwire around the perimeter with tin cans and stuff attached to it. The zombos walked right into it and woke everyone up. Trip here saved all our lives. Trip, this is Skye. I found her when I was out running an errand for the Director.

"Can't say I'm not glad that you did," Antoine said with a wink. "You on your way to the Director's office?"

"Yep. Say, have you seen Mack, Mockingbird, or Hunter around?"

"Out doing recon. Should be back in a little while."

"Cool."

"Who're Mack, Mockingbird, and Hunter?

"Mack's real name is Alphonso, but A) that's a mouthful, and B) dude's build like a semi, so we started calling him Mack, after the 18-wheel transport trucks. Mockingbird is Barbra Morse, she got her name because she is scary good at impersonations. One time she literally walked right through a hoard of at least fifty undead and none of them even batted an eye. They all thought that she was one of them. Hunter doesn't have a nickname. I mean, I told you that I got the name T-K because 'Grant' didn't sound like a zomb killer, but with a name like 'Lance Hunter', this guy didn't really have that problem. Anyways, here we are. The Director's office." He rapped his knuckles against the door twice and a voice called out from within.

"Come in."

Grant turned the doorknob and swung open the door before leading the way into the room. Skye was a bit surprised at the man within. While Grant, Melinda, and Antoine had all been sporting the well-worn denim and leather and Kevlar that one had come to expect these days, the Director was wearing a simple, but well fitting, suit.

"Reporting back, sir. I got what I was after," Grant announced. He pulled a small rectangular box out of the pocket Skye had seen him fiddling with earlier and placed it on the director's desk. "And I also found Skye."

"I see that. And who, exactly, are you, Skye? What did you do before all this?"

"I was a hacker, sir. Still kindda am… I'm working on restoring the internet, to see if we can get in contact with some other countries, see if the virus has spread to them or not, and if they'd provide safe haven. That's actually why I was in that building in the first place. I mean, the internet is down here because there's no one maintaining the servers and the systems that let us access it. It still exists, it's just our means of tapping into it doesn't. That building hosted the most servers in the entire state. I was hoping to get a wire in on one of them, see if I could get in through that. But I got attacked before I could get to the server room."

Coulson nodded pensively. "Well, that sounds like a very useful pursuit. T-K, you'll find her a bunk?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Oh, and find Jemma. Skye needs a full check, before tonight. Got it?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, dismissed."

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**AN: Hope you're enjoying this story so far, please leave a review, and follow for updates!**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Merry Christmas friends! Hope you're all having a great day! Enjoy your turkey and your family time, and I hope you all got everything you wanted! If you're in the mood for some SkyeWard Christmas cuteness, check out my new oneshot, "Delay", and don't forget to review!**

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"So what was that thing you had to get?" Skye asked as they walked back down the hall, away from the Director's office.

"A hard drive. I don't know what was on it, just that it was important. The Director told me exactly where it would be. 372 Hillman Street. Eleventh Floor. Center row, fifth desk from the stairwell. Middle drawer on the left. He was pretty specific."

"How'd he know all that?"

"The Director is a pretty mysterious guy, none of us know for sure his background, except for the Calvary. The two of them go way back, but none of us really know her story either… Anyways, what I'm getting to is that when I was there, looking for the hard drive, I noticed his name on a couple of memos in the drawer. I'm assuming he used to work there."

"Okay, but you risked your life to get a hard drive, and you don't even know why?"

"If the Director says that it's important, then it is. Oh, Hey, Jem!" Grant called down the hallway, causing the redhead at the end of the corridor to turn around and wait for them to catch up. "Jem, this is Skye. I brought her in, the Director wants you to run a check on her."

"Wait, what does that mean exactly?" Skye interrupted.

"Oh, it's standard procedure," the girl explained. "Anytime someone new comes in I do a physical examination. Blood work, eye exam, stuff like that. Make sure that you're fit and healthy and, most importantly, verify that you're not carrying the virus. You haven't been bit, have you?"

"No, of course not."

"Good! Well, I'm just wrapping up a few things, would you mind meeting me outside my lab in about half an hour? T-K can show you where it is."

"Yeah, no problem. We actually passed it on the way in. I'll be there."

"Lovely. Cheers!"

"Cool, well we have just enough time to find you a bunk then" Grant said after Jemma walked away. He lead her down yet another hallway, this one lined with doors on either side. It kind of reminded Skye of the dorm hallways of colleges she'd seen in movies and stuff. About halfway down they stopped and Grant opened one of the doors. "This one to your liking?" he asked as she walked into the room. Skye's feeling of a college residence increased, but she liked it.

"Yeah, it's great. Thanks!"

"No problem. And my room's just across the hall, if you need anything… I'll let you get settled, just come knock on my door if you want me to walk you to Jem's lab later."

"I think I can find it, but maybe I'll get you to give me the full tour later? I've really only seen this hallway and the one that leads to the Director's office."

"For sure. I'll see you later then." Grant hesitated a moment longer, but then quickly stepped out of the room and shut the door behind himself.

Skye looked around the room momentarily. The walls were all a neutral shade of beige, and there weren't any windows, since they were below ground. She was pleased to find that the artificial lighting wasn't too strong though. She'd pretty much been expecting harsh fluorescents, but instead the room was washed in a warm white glow. There was a wardrobe in the corner, not that she had much to wear, although now that she was settled down she might try and build up a bit of a variety, and set in one wall was a door. She cracked it open and found her own little bathroom. Nothing fancy, just a toilet, a stand-up shower, and a sink, but it was all that she needed. Smiling, Skye went back into the main room and flopped down on the bed. She practically moaned it felt so good. She hadn't slept in a proper bed in months. She almost fell asleep right then and there, but instead forced herself to get up and take a quick shower before going to meet Jemma. There wasn't any shampoo or soap, but those had become slightly less common things. Still, Skye was more than happy for the chance to just rinse most of the grime off of herself. That done, she stepped out of the shower, towel dried her hair, put her clothes back on, and set out for her doctor's appointment.

Skye was certain that she knew exactly where Jemma's lab was. But it turned out, the BUS was slightly more complicated than she'd thought, and she wound up taking a wrong turn or two. She wound up completely lost, and she didn't even know how to get back to the bunks to ask Grant to show her. She was starting to give up hope when all of a sudden a hand grabbed her shoulder and spun her around and pressed her to the wall.

A tall woman with blonde hair stood in front of her, with her forearm pressed against Skye's throat. It wasn't choking her yet, but Skye knew that that could change in a heartbeat.

"Who are you?" the woman demanded.

"I'm Skye! Grant, T-K, he brought me here. I'm just trying to find Jemma's lab for my checkup but I got lost." The woman looked her over once more, searching her eyes for any signs of a lie. Finally she was satisfied, and she let her go.

"Sorry about that. Can't be too careful these days. Around here they call me Mockingbird, but my friends call me Bobbie. You can take your pick. And as for Jemma's lab, just go down to the end of this hallway, hang a left, and then just keep walking straight. You'll find it."

"Thanks. I'll see you around, I'm sure."

"That you will. See ya, Skye."

Skye's physical went without a hitch, and she managed to find her way back to the bunks without incident. As promised, Grant gave her the tour of the BUS, including the training room, shooting range, kitchen, storage lockers, armoury, and what they called the 'central coms room', which had some HAM radio equipment and a supply of short-range radios. The charging stations for the walkie-talkies all had wires running into the walls, which drew Skye's attention, but Grant explained that Fitz had converted the BUS to run on solar energy.

They had dinner with the entire team, then hung out in the lounge with Jemma and Trip and Fitz. They wound up being the last two to go to bed that night. The other three all called it a night pretty early, but both Skye and Grant were somewhat night owls. They stayed up talking until almost 3am before they started walking back to their rooms. When they got to their doors, they both stood there a bit awkwardly for a moment, before Skye took the leap and stood up on her tippy toes to kiss him. He kissed her back, and in that moment Skye would have sworn that magic was real.

"Good night, Skye" he whispered to her gently. Skye smiled and retreated into her room as he walked into his.

"Good night, Grant" she whispered to his closed door.

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**AN: Thanks for reading! Please favourite, follow, and Review! Merry Christmas!**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since the last update! I am now back from my Spain trip, and actually went on a quick trip to Paris for two days too, but I had an essay due the other day and between that and the travels I've been pretty busy! Anyways, here is the next chapter of _Properly_, hope you like it!**

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In the morning, Skye decided that it was time to go get herself some supplies, since she now had a permanent place. She got dressed into her same clothes as yesterday and then made her way to the kitchen. There, she found the Director standing at the coffee pot, waiting for the drink to finish brewing.

"Oh, um, Sir, I was wondering if it's cool if I head out for a bit? I've only got the one set of clothes and I'd kindda like to have something else. I won't be too long, a couple of hours at most."

"Get someone to go with you," Coulson asserted. "And be careful."

"Yes sir." Skye grabbed a bagel off of the counter on her way out of the kitchen and then went back to the bunks. She knocked on Grant's door a couple times and he opened it almost immediately.

"Skye! What's up?"

"I'm going into town to get some stuff… The Director implemented the buddy system though, I was wondering if you're free?"

"Actually I can't. Fitz just told me that he DID build me a flame thrower for Lola, and he, Mack, and I are going to mount it this morning."

"No worries, have fun with that!"

"Oh we will!" Grant grinned. He closed the door and Skye turned back to her room, but then saw Mockingbird coming out of her room down the hall.

"Hey, Bobbie!" She called. "Wanna go shopping?"

Bobbie looked up and grinned. "Oh, hell yes I do!"

They stopped at the armoury and loaded up on weapons before making their way to the garage. When they were almost there, Skye tentatively asked "Any chance I could drive?"

"Sure," Bobbie replied. "We all kindda have our own babies, but there's some spare wheels at the back of the garage that you can take your pick from." She showed Skye the cars that she was referring to, and Skye immediately knew which one she wanted.

It was a simple black SUV, but it was spacious and, most importantly, it was practical. "This one" she told Bobbie.

"The keys are inside, kid."

Skye grinned and climbed into the driver's seat as Bobbie slid into the seat next to her. She turned the key in the ignition and the car roared to life.

"You're going to have to give me directions though, I don't know this area too well. I mainly stuck to my one little block" Skye told Bobbie as she drove up the ramp and out through the doors.

"No problem. Pull a right at the end of the driveway, and straight on to town."

"Got it. Oh, hey, remind me to pick up some CDs too, kay?"

It was a short and uneventful drive to the superstore where they were headed. They passed a couple of zombos on the way, but they were gone before the creeps even noticed them. When they got to the store, that was where the fun was going to begin. Places like this were risky, but they also had the best supplies, since few people wanted to risk them. The front doors of the store which had once been automatic were completely gone, and Skye managed to drive the SUV right into the store. She plowed over a couple of displays that were in the main aisles, and pulled up right at the clothing department. There were five dead heads wandering around, but Bobbie pulled out a handgun with a silencer on the end and dropped them all within seconds.

"Stay close" she warned.

Shopping didn't take as long as it would have before the world went to shit. They didn't bother trying things on. If they weren't sure about sizes, they'd take more than one of the thing. Skye grabbed a stack of plaid flannel shirts, some T-shirts, two denim jackets, multiple pairs of jeans, some yoga pants, and two tank tops. She also grabbed a handful of sports bras and some undies from the intimates wall and, as an afterthought, grabbed a cute lacy black number that caught her eye. Bobbie had collected an armful of stuff too, and they threw it all into the back of the car and hopped back into their seats.

The grocery department got raided next. The supplies were a bit more scant there, since that was the first thing that most raiders would go for. Still, they were able to get a good stock of canned foods and an assortment of drinks. Skye even found some chocolate, and a case of beer hiding under a toppled shelf. The food joined the clothes and they moved on to the pharmacy for toiletries (Bobbie also grabbed some various meds. They weren't needed at the moment, but one never knew) before continuing on to their final stop, the electronics department for some music. Once again Bobbie cleared the section with a couple of shots, and they quickly moved down the aisles. Skye grabbed about a dozen CDs from various artists, threw them into her backpack, and was going to head back to the car, but then she noticed the laptops in the glass cases.

She'd abandoned her own laptop ages ago, since once the grid went down it was practically impossible to charge it. She'd held onto it for a while, but in the end it was just weighing her down. But now… The BUS had power, and having a laptop would definitely be useful for the whole "restoring the web" thing. One strong kick was all that it took to shatter the glass… And set off an alarm.

"Shit!" Skye yelled as she grabbed the first laptop she could reach and the two of them booked it back to the car. "I figured that with the grid down there wouldn't be any power to run the alarms!"

"Security stuff usually runs on emergency generators! I thought that those would be down too but I guess not…" Bobbie cried back. Already there were zombs coming out of the woodwork to see what the noise was, and three of them were between them and the safety of the car.

Bobbie shot one of them effortlessly and was about to hit the next one, when her gun jammed. Skye grabbed her own gun out of the holster on her side and fired three shots, putting the last one into one walker's head, and by that time was at near point-blank distance with the final one. Her first shot missed and the thing was almost on top of her, its mouth hanging open as it went for the exposed skin of her face. It was at the very last second that she brought her gun up and pointed it directly into the deado's mouth and fired a single blast that tore right through its skull.

"Nice one, let's go!" Bobbie yelled, already in the passenger's seat. Skye climbed in next to her and slammed the door shut, just in time to block out yet another attacker. She gunned the gas and this time it wasn't store displays that she was knocking over, but zombies by the dozen. The airbags actually went off, but Skye didn't stop, just kept on going. They deflated pretty quickly, but the dust from them that lingered in the air for a bit was pretty annoying. Still, they got out to the main entrance and then out into the street without further incident and, once they were moving quickly down the main road, they were able to safely roll down the windows to clear the air.

"Oh my god, my heart is beating like nobody's business!" Bobbie exclaimed.

Skye laughed. "Same here! Pretty sure I have enough adrenaline for an army right now. You okay?"

"Yeah, you? That one zomb got pretty close…"

"Yeah, I'm fine. And I'll be better once we're back at the bus and can enjoy our spoils!"

"Hell yeah!"

And enjoy their spoils they did. They left the general supplies in the car for the time being, and they each grabbed their new clothes and other personal stuff and took it straight to their rooms. Skye immediately hopped in the shower and scrubbed herself with her new loofa and body wash. She worked her shampoo into a full lather and then rinsed it out before massaging in the conditioner. The products all smelled so good, and Skye had never enjoyed a shower more in her life.

After she got out and dried off she started digging though her clothes, first pulling out a new set of underwear (thank god) and a sports bra. Then she pulled on a pair of her yoga pants and threw on one of the tee shirts and a flannel over top of that. Finally, she ran her new hairbrush through her locks and then set out to go help unload the rest of the stuff from her car.

Outside her door she ran into Grant again. "Hey, did you get the flame thrower up?"

"Yeah we did! It is awesome! How was your shopping?"

"It was great! A little bit of excitement at the end, but we got what we went for and left in one piece, and that's what matters, right? I'm just going to unload the food and stuff, if you have time to give me a hand…"

"Of course!" They set off down the hall, and after a moment Grant slowly reached over and took Skye's hand in his. "If it's okay…" he asked. Skye just smiled and gave his hand a little squeeze, causing Grants lips to curve upwards too. "You smell really, really good." He told her after a moment.

"I actually got some shampoo! Oh my god it's the best thing ever" Skye enthused.

Grant just laughed. They each grabbed an armful of groceries and brought it to the kitchen, and it was upon their return to the car for a second load that Grant noticed the case of beer.

"That… That is not going to the kitchen" Grant said mischievously.

"What did you have in mind?"

"Party in our rooms tonight? Let's just hang out, talk, drink, like people used to before all this shit."

"Well, I think I owe Bobbie at least 2 of these, but the other 10 are fair game."

"Sounds fair. Tell you what, I've got the last of the groceries, you go stash that in your room and then meet me in the lounge, okay?"

"You got it!" She grabbed the case and set off for the dorms, stopping at Bobbie's bunk on the way. Bobbie opened the door at her knock and Skye held out two of the beers. "I figured these are yours," she grinned, "for putting up with that shit."

"Hey, no worries girl! Let's do it again sometime. You got plans for the rest of those?"

Skye nodded. "T-K and I are gonna get drunk tonight. It's been way too long since that's happened."

Mockingbird smiled mischievously. "Well, I might have a proposal for you…" she went over to her nightstand and pulled out a small box. "I'll trade you two of these for another one of those?" Skye looked at the box apprehensively for a moment, then gave in to her wild side and nodded, her face taking on the same mischievous grin that Bobbie wore. Bobbie pulled out two units of the box's contents and handed them to Skye as Skye pulled another bottle of beer out of the case and handed it over.

Skye slipped her new acquisitions into the pocket of her flannel shirt. "Pleasure doing business with you!" she chimed as she walked away. Bobbie just laughed and closed the door.

Skye quickly stashed the spoils of her trade and the beers in her room before hurrying back to the lounge where Grant was waiting. She had just sat down next to him on the couch when the Calvary walked in.

"Skye, the Director wants me to assess your combat skills and train you in your areas of weakness. Come on."

Skye looked over at Grant momentarily, but he just nodded his head in Melinda's direction and then kissed her cheek briefly. "Go on. Good luck, I'll see you later."

"Yeah, if I live that long…" Despite her apprehension, Skye got up and followed Melinda to the shooting range.

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**AN: Hope you liked it! Please favourite and follow, but most importantly please REVIEW! Thanks!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Hey all! Sorry it's been a while since the last chapter! Anyways, this one's a fun little fluff chapter, but I think you'll like it! Enjoy!**

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"First up, guns" Melinda said, handing Skye a handgun much like the one she'd just used at the store. Skye looked it over, checked the weight of it in her hand, then brought it up to face the target. She let off a series of 6 shots, all of which hit the target. Melinda said nothing, just pressed a button to bring forward the target.

It wasn't a perfect round. Yes, all six shots had hit the target, but out of that only two of them were close enough to the center of the head to drop a zomb. Still, on the bright side, two of her shots had been close enough to the center of the head to drop a zomb!

"I'm better with knives" Skye explained.

"You'll run out of knives a lot faster than you'll run out of bullets. It's good that you're skilled with one weapon, my job is to get you skilled with all of them. Let's go for another round."

They worked with the guns for another hour before Melinda let her show off her skills with a knife. Then they moved to the training room, where they spent over an hour and a half on the mats, sparing. By the time that Skye got back to her room afterwards, she was tired and sore and covered in sweat. For the third time in two days she climbed gratefully into the shower and, as soon as she got out and dried off, she fell into bed.

She was woken up a few hours later to someone knocking on her door. She'd fallen asleep in just a pair of black boyshorts, but she threw on a clean flannel shirt and opened up the door part way anyways. Grant stood in the hallway, looking rather nervous.

"Oh, hey" Skye said groggily.

"Hey. Sorry, I didn't mean to disturb you…"

"No, no it's cool! What time is it?"

"It's 8. You missed dinner but there're some leftovers in the fridge if you want them."

Skye's stomach chose just then to grumble. "Actually yeah, that sounds awesome. Let me just grab some pants…" Skye turned around and pulled a pair of jeans off the floor. She hadn't gotten around to sorting her new clothes and putting them away just yet, so everything was just in a pile. Once she had the desired item in hand she stepped into them and pulled them up around her hips and then did up the button and zipper. She decided to stay barefoot as she went out into the hallway with Grant. She slipped her hand into his and together they walked down to the kitchen.

Eating dinner with Grant was nice. They talked, told jokes and stories. Surprisingly enough, all of the best stories that they had were from before the virus hit. Grant had once accidentally lit a garbage dumpster outside of his school on fire, which lead to the side of the building having a large scorch mark on it for the rest of time. Skye, in turn, told him about the time that she had hacked NASA on a dare. She hadn't done anything bad, she assured him, just sent a message to the astronauts in the international space station saying 'The Skye is no longer the limit'. Grant had gotten quite a laugh out of that.

When she finished eating, they wandered back to the dorms. They decided to hang out in Skye's room, since that's where the beer already was, and it wound up turning into a game of reverse 'never have I ever'. Since there were only two of them, they decided that the goal of the game was to say things that they HAD done that they thought that the other person hadn't. And if the person hadn't done the thing, then they had to drink.

For instance, on Skye's first turn, she said "Never have I ever got my driver's license."

Grant glared at her but took a sip of his beer anyways. "Never have I ever been to Europe."

"Low blow!" Skye returned as she drank in turn. "No more stuff that you know for a fact, deal?"

"Deal."

"Okay, my turn. Never have I ever cooked a full Christmas turkey dinner."

"Random" Grant said, without touching his beer.

"Wait, you have?"

"Yep! My mom wanted me to learn how to cook, so she taught me. Then, a couple years ago, she didn't feel like making Christmas dinner, so she pawned it off on me. I didn't even burn anything!"

"I'm impressed. Your go."

"Never have I ever had sex in a plane." Grant blushed a bit as he said it, but he was confident that it was a trump card. To his chagrin, Skye's drink stayed away from her smirking lips. "You HAVE?" Skye just winked in response.

"Never have I ever had sex on the beach."

"Wait, the drink, or the actual act?"

"The act, dummie!"

Grant grimaced but took a sip of his drink anyways. "Okay, fine, never have I ever been to a strip club?"

He was sure he had her on that one, but Skye still didn't touch her drink. Instead she leaned forward and whispered "Never have I ever _worked at_ a strip club." Grant just stared at her and blinked for a moment, so Skye grabbed his bottle of beer and held it to his lips for him, laughing. He snapped out of it eventually and took the bottle from her and drank, but didn't ask his next question yet.

"I'm sorry, but WHAT?"

Skye laughed again. "I was a bartender. Yeah I had to wear a skimpy outfit and stuff, but I didn't do any actual dancing. And it was only for a couple of weeks…"

"Damn. You know what, you win" he told her and downed the rest of his beer. Skye did a little victory dance while he chugged, and then decided to down her own to make it fair.

Their next round of beer went towards playing "two truths and a lie", and after that it was a variation of 20 questions where they just took turns asking each other personal questions, and if they didn't want to answer they had to take a drink. Finally, as the third bottle of beer went down the hatch, Skye stopped caring about what was or wasn't between them, and just leaned forward and kissed him.

It wasn't a soft, tentative, and gentle kiss like the one they had shared the night before. This time it was like fire hitting water, an explosion of passion which consumed them both and from which neither party would leave unchanged. Grant pulled her into his lap, and Skye pressed even closer to him. His hands had been wrapped around her back, but he was forced to remove one of them and use it to brace himself against the floor to prevent her from knocking him over.

"Hey Grant?" Skye murmured after a while.

"Hmm?"

"How many beers are left?"

Grant's eyebrows pulled together at the sudden change in subject, but nonetheless looked over at the case and did a quick count. "Uh, looks like three…"

"Yeah, and how many were there when I brought them back?"

"A dozen."

"And we each had three so that brings it down to six left…"

"And you said you were going to give two to Bobbie, right?"

"Yeah, I did. But that makes four. So, what do you think happened to the one missing beer?"

Grant laughed. "I don't know, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me."

Skye grinned and stood up, grabbing his hand and pulling him up after her and then dragging him over to stand next to her bed. She bent over and pulled open the drawer of her nightstand in which she had stashed the items Bobbie had given her earlier and grabbed one of the little packets, then stood up and turned back to Grant while keeping the object hidden behind her back.

"I traded it," she told him, "for a magic bean."

"A magic bean?" he repeated incredulously. "Really?"

"Well, no. It's better" she grinned, bringing her hand out in front of her so he could see the condom that she held. "What do you think? Want to make some magic, mister Ward?"

Grant said nothing, just bent down slightly to kiss her once more. He took her hand in his, and gently wrapped her fingers shut around the package. "While I am more than happy to hear that that option is on the table, don't you think it's a bit fast? I… really like you, Skye. I don't want to mess this up by moving too quickly."

Skye pouted and rolled her eyes, but when Grant gently pulled on her protruding lip and made a dorky face at her, she couldn't help but smile. "Yeah, okay. You're right. Just remember, these things _do_ have an expiry date, so…."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that, Skye. I just want to make sure we're both ready. I don't think that will be too long." Grant winked and kissed her again once more. It was a brief kiss though, and soon Grant was pulling away again. "You know, I hate to be the voice of reason twice in one night, but the Director isn't very forgiving of hangovers. I think that he actually works you harder if he detects any trace. And it is getting late, so-"

"So we should probably go to sleep. You're right, as usual."

"Sweet dreams, Skye"

With that, Grant gave her hand a brief squeeze, and then let himself out of her room. Skye smiled as she flopped down onto the bed, and his face stayed in her mind all night, staring in each and every one of her dreams.

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**AN: What do you think? Cute enough to make you Squeee? Things will be picking up in the next chapter, and if you want it sooner rather than later, Reviews always help speed up my posting! ;)**


	6. Chapter 6

The next morning Skye was woken yet again by a knock on the door. She groaned as she got out of bed. Her head was pounding a bit from last night's drinking, but she knew from experience that it would go away soon enough, once she drank a couple glasses of water.

"Oh, good morning, sir" Skye yawned as she opened the door to reveal the Director standing there.

"Good morning Skye. I'd like to see you and T-K in my office as soon as possible, please. I've already given him the message. I'll expect to see you both in about thirty minutes."

"Yes sir!"

The Director nodded his approval and walked away without another word. Skye closed her door and quickly threw on a pair of jeans, a black T-shirt, and one of her denim jackets. She ran a brush through her hair and then pulled on her boots and made a beeline for the kitchen. Grant was already there, digging though the fridge. Skye just grabbed a box of cereal out of the cupboard and threw a few handfuls in her mouth, then washed it down with two glasses of water. Grant had found a protein shake and elected to drink it as they walked hand in hand to the Director's office.

Director Coulson didn't keep them waiting when they got there. He was a man of few words, and as such got right to the point.

"I want the two of you to go back to Hillman Street. Skye's work restoring the internet might just be our ticket out of this. You got interrupted last time, but I need you to try again. T-K, you're her backup. Anything happens, you deal with it so Skye can stay focused. Get Fitz to get you set up with radios. Skye, if you get that connection established, you radio me for further instructions. Got it?"

"Yes sir" the couple chimed. The Director nodded in approval, and they took that as their sign to move out.

Just like Skye and Bobbie had done the day before, the two of them stopped in the armoury and loaded up. Skye strapped a holster to each hip, a sheath on each thigh, and attached a small blade to her ankle. Grant had a similar setup, with the addition of a large rifle strapped over one shoulder. Next, they went into the coms room and picked up their radios. Skye also grabbed her laptop from the corner where it had been charging and stuffed it into her backpack.

"Ready?" Grant asked.

"Ready."

When they got to the garage, they both started walking over to their respective vehicles, but both realized at about the same time that the other wasn't following. With a sigh they met in the middle and wordlessly each held out a fist. Once, twice, three times they hit their fist against their open hand. On the third hit Grant held out two fingers while Skye held her hand out flat.

"Ha, Scissors beats paper, Lola it is!" he yelled triumphantly. Skye made a face but climbed into the red jeep anyways.

He drove just as madly as he had the first time, but this time he only had one hand on the steering wheel. The other was holding her hand, his thumb tracing light circles on the back of it. Skye smiled. It was the first time she had felt any true sense of, well, peace wasn't really the right word, nor was happiness… Something in the middle of that, she thought. Whatever it was that she was feeling, she liked it and, when the feeling intensified as she looked over at Grant, her smile grew with it.

When they pulled up in front of the building in which they'd met, Grant hopped out first. He pulled the machete out of the sheath on his thigh and swiftly sliced the head off of the nearest zomb, then spun and did the same to another. Once the immediate area was cleared, he came around Skye's side of the jeep and gallantly opened her door for her. Hand in hand they strode into the high-rise and together they cleared everything in their way. It didn't take long for them to make it up to the 14th floor where the servers were housed. With one swift kick Grant busted the door open, and Skye rushed in while he stayed outside to guard her back.

Once inside Skye quickly ran over to the work station and turned on the computer there. Fortunately the building that they were in ran on solar energy, which kept the server room operational despite the hell outside its doors. As the desktop booted up, Skye also pulled out her new laptop and connected it to the workstation which would allow her to pull the data from the workstation computer and from the servers and save it onto her hard drive, and to transfer some code she had already written on her laptop onto the servers.

Once the workstation was running, it only took a few keystrokes for her to diagnose the problems that had overloaded the server. While it would have been virtually impossible to fix the mess from offsite, the workstation allowed her to implement several override codes which cleared all of the issues in minutes.

Outside, Grant had a couple of zombos wander by, but he dealt with them with as much ease as he had the ones outside. "How's it going?" he called through the door as he finished off another dead-head.

"I'm getting there! I should have this thing up and running in about five more minutes."

She was typing furiously, trying first one thing, then another, and another yet. She was almost there, she could tell, but roadblocks were popping up with every other line of code that she typed.

Finally, with one last stroke of the enter key, there was a significant amount of beeping that came from several of the servers, and she had access. Skye whooped at the top of her lungs. "I got it Grant, I did it!"

"Seriously? Awesome! Get the Director on the radio so we can get out of here!"

She nodded and closed the door once again, turning around to face the computer once again and starting the code transfer from her laptop to the workstation system and then pulling the radio out of her pocket.

"Director? Sir, I have access" Skye said into the walkie-talkie.

"Copy that, Skye. Any open channels of communication on there?"

"Um, looks like England and Australia are open. Islands seem to be doing alright… wait, scratch that, Hawaii is gone. There's a central chat which broadcasts to all survivors. What should I post sir?"

Outside Skye heard Grant fire off a couple of gunshots. "Everything okay?" she called.

"I'm dealing with it! But if we could get out of here sooner rather than later, that would be nice…"

"Skye, post the following message," the Director's voice ordered from the walkie talkie. "Survivors at coordinates 35.7248 and -18.3976. Requesting Assistance."

"… Requesting…. Assistance… Got it. It's sent, sir." The gunshots continued outside the door.

"Good. Anything else you can do right now, Skye?"

"Not really sir. I can stabilize the connection here so that I can get it up and running faster if I come back, but it's not possible to broadcast the signal. I'll need the hardline connection every time I want access."

"Right. Do that, then come back to base. Director, out."

"Yes sir. Skye, out." She closed up her laptop and stashed it back in her bag, then went back to typing a few more lines of code into the workstation computer. "How's it going out there, Grant?"

"Skye, we need to move!"

"Two minutes!"

"One!"

Skye ran over to one of the servers and pushed a few buttons, then hurried back over to the workstation. Her code had done its job and she quickly powered down the computer and threw her bag over her shoulder. She pulled her gun out of her hip holster and took her knife in her other and then threw open the door and whipped the knife at the zomb that was practically on top of Grant.

"Let's go!" she yelled. She didn't have to tell him twice. There were at least six other deados coming towards him, and she estimated about eight corpses littering the ground around him. She shot clear the path to the stairs and they ran down together.

When they were outside Grant tossed her the keys. "You drive" he told her breathlessly. Puzzled, Skye grabbed the keys out of the air and ran around to the driver's side, gunning the engine as soon as Grant was inside too. As soon as the door was shut behind him, he maneuvered himself around and pulled the sunroof open, then stood up on his seat with his torso out the now-open window. His intent became clear pretty fast when he fired up the flame thrower and blasted the hoard that was following them. "Yeahh!" he yelled as he torched the zombies. Only when they were well clear of any pursuit did he sit back down in his seat and shut the roof.

Skye laughed exuberantly. "We did it!" she grinned. "That was crazy. And, is it just me, or does zombo killing always make you hungry and horny too?"

Grant laughed. "I could definitely go for a burger about now…" Skye looked over at him briefly and he winked. She just laughed and turned her attention back to the road.

She didn't see the way that his face fell the moment she looked away.

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**AN: So there you go! Hope you liked that chapter... The next chapter is also the last one! So please, review and feel free to go and check out some of my other AUs! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: So, here it is! The final chapter! Really not a lot to say here, so I'll talk to you all at the bottom of the page. Enjoy!**

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When they got to the base, the Director was waiting for them in the garage. "Well done, both of you. Your work today might just be our key to survival."

"Thank you, sir. I am… very happy to hear you say that. It makes it seem a bit more worthwhile" Grant replied somberly.

"What's worthwhile?" Coulson asked cautiously.

Grant swallowed hard and gingerly pulled off his shirt, revealing the large bite on his shoulder. Both Skye and the Director paled visibly, but it didn't take the Director long to act. He pulled out his radio and called Jemma immediately. Within moments she had joined them in the garage and then was leading Grant into her lab.

Skye didn't say a word until after he was already gone. She couldn't move. Her legs felt cemented to the ground, her stomach had somehow been replaced by a writhing knot, and her arms and hands were shaking like leaves in a tornado. Only when he was out of sight did she manage to snap back to life. "What's going to happen?" she asked the Director desperately. "I mean, I know what's going to happen, but… how are we going to deal with it?"

"Jemma's been wanting to study the transformation process; she thinks that it will help to have tissue, blood, and DNA samples from throughout the process. She's already got reference samples for him, from before the bite, and he was infected less than an hour ago. He's a perfect subject. She's going to study him right through to the end of the change and then…"

"Then we put him down" Skye concluded bluntly.

"Yes" the Director replied. "So far our research indicates that the change will happen over a period of approximately 12 hours, so…"

"I don't need to hear any more" Skye interrupted. Before the Director could say another word she ran out of the garage and didn't stop until she got to her room. The tears were already flowing before she got there, and her pillow was soaked within moments of her throwing herself against it.

Some time later she managed to compose herself and the tears gradually stopped. She brought herself into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on her face. She brushed her hair, and then went and changed out of her dirty clothes. She threw them directly into the garbage; she didn't want to keep anything that would remind her of that mission. And, finally, she took a deep breath and then strode out of her room and down the hall. As she turned a corner she saw Jemma coming out of her lab and Skye quickly hid for a moment until she was sure the scientist was gone.

When the coast was clear Skye continued down the hall and stood outside the door of the lab resolutely. She thought back to the first rule that Grant had laid down for her when she got to the BUS, and just as quickly as the thought entered her mind, she threw it out the metaphorical window and pushed open the lab door.

Grant was sitting against the wall in the cage that Skye had noticed on her first day. It wasn't until now that she realized what it was for. He looked up as she walked in and, when he saw her, he scrambled clumsily to his feet.

"You shouldn't be in here" he told her, although his eyes said the opposite.

"It would take more than a stupid rule to keep me away" she replied. She sat down on the floor just outside of the cage, and Grant followed suit, sitting down across from her on his side of the bars. They sat in silence for a few minutes before Skye finally broke. "If I'd been faster-" she began.

Grant cut her off almost immediately. "You went as fast as you could. This was _not_ your fault, Skye, please don't blame yourself. I couldn't live with myself if you did. I mean, I won't be living with myself for much longer, but you know what I mean."

Skye chuckled weakly as a tear slipped unbidden down her cheek.

"Hey, hey, don't cry. Come on, Skye, I'm just some guy you met two days ago. Nothing to cry over, right?"

"If you honestly believe that, you're stupider than the brain-dead zombies outside" she replied.

"Going to be one of them soon" he reminded her.

"Don't say that. Just, pretend? For me? Pretend that it's going to be okay."

Grant nodded somberly for a moment, then let a wicked grin creep onto his face. "Well in that case, why don't we go back to your room later tonight and use that prize that you won from Bobbie?"

Skye smiled back. "Bet you're wishing now that you'd taken advantage of that offer last night, aren't you?"

"I don't need sex to feel how much I love you, Skye."

Skye bit her lip and more tears started to fall down her face. "I love you too" she sobbed. "I love you too."

A few tears started to make their way down Grant's face too, until his body trembled and a scream wracked through him. Things calmed down after a few minutes, but his voice was huskier and trembling when he spoke next. "Skye, I want you to remember me human, not the way I'm going to be. You have to go. Before I get worse."

"Grant I don't want to leave you. I don't want you to go through this alone."

"I know. But it'll be okay, Skye. Just do one thing for me, okay?" Skye nodded and he continued. "You make it out of this. You get to England or Australia or wherever you guys wind up going. Find somewhere safe, and live. Live a long and happy life. Live it for both of us." Skye sobbed but nodded again and placed her hand up against the bar. Grant just shook his head. "I'm not risking that, baby. I love you too much. Just go now, go back to your room and stay there until I'm gone, okay?"

Skye buried her face in her hands for a second, and when she pulled them away her face was filled with resolve. "If it helps at all, just know that meeting you makes up for the viral mess we now live in. I mean, if this hadn't happened, I'd be sitting in a café somewhere hacking who knows who, and you'd be off boring yourself to death in college. I'll take meeting you, even if it was only for a few days, over that life any day." With that she stood up and started walking out of the room, but Grant called after her just as her hand was on the doorknob.

"I wish I'd met you before all of this, Skye. Maybe then I would have been able to love you properly, the way you deserve."

Without turning around, Skye spoke one last time. "You loved me with everything you have, Grant. That is all that I could ask for and more." Before he had a chance to reply she pulled the door open and strode out into the hall. She didn't stop until she was back in her room. The second that the door closed behind her, she grabbed one of the leftover beers and popped it open. Hours later, as she was almost finished the final bottle, she heard a shot ring through the base, echoing off of the concrete walls, and she silently poured a portion of the booze out onto the floor. "To love" she whispered into the silence of the empty room before tossing back the rest of the bottle's contents and then standing up and walking out of the room to go find the Calvary.

She had some training to do.

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**AN: ... So, yeah. Don't kill me, please! Let me explain... see, this was originally supposed to be a one-shot, and the prompt that I started with was "maybe if we met before the apocalypse I could have loved you properly", so it was destined for this all along. It just became a lot longer than I had originally planned in the process. But anyways, that's that... So let me know what you think? And don't worry, you'll find out favourite couple alive and well in some of my other works. Thank you so much for sticking with me through this!**


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